Being tethered in place is much worse for some than others.
As COVID restrictions have flattened our appetite for straying too far from home, we have dedicated this summer to exploring the less-known trails close to us.
We are doing mostly day-trips. Names that we have heard mentioned – Sarrail Ridge, Windy Tower, Old Goat Creek – have been added to a list of Hikes We’ve Been Meaning To Get To. We decided that adding to our quiver of “known hikes” will make it easier to show our future guests a good time. When it is overcast (or smoky), you can still hike – you just stay in the valleys and trees. If you are hiking with friends that aren’t used to the altitude (or who aren’t as fit), there are less strenuous hikes. Some hikes feature waterfalls. Some hikes are more technical (meaning there could be some light climbing/scrambling). Some hikes have criss-cross back and forth over streams, with quaint bridges. Some hikes have panoramic views … but require going up 1,000+ metres to access those views.
Although each hike is quite spectacular in retrospect, I haven’t been blogging about each individual one. Here’s a summary of some of our outings.
Click on any of the pictures below for a BIGGER view.
June hike, on our way to Old Goat Glacier
Pip on the Ha Ling stairs
Hiking through the smoke on the way to Helen Lake
Old Goat Creek valley
Canmore and the Bow Valley from the top of EEOR (East End of Rundle Mtn.)
Parker Ridge with Mya and Pip
Bow Lake in the smoke
Fire carnage on the way to Helen Lake
Sometimes we hike with wheels. Here we are riding the Bow Valley Parkway to Lake Louise with Sean, Gaetanne, Chris and Anne-Marie
Early morning shadows, volunteering for Epic Trail Day at Canmore Nordic Centre
Centennial Ridge Hike
Leaving Mt. Allen Summit
Grassi Knob and Three Sisters behind
The cairn at Olympic Peak
Sentinel rocks on the Centennial Ridge trail
Pip having lunch on the way to Old Goat Glacier
As I write this, Kate is packing our packs to climb Sarrail Ridge with Jim and Grace tomorrow. I think a campfire tonight will be the prelude to a night dirtbagging in the van, then an early start at the trailhead to beat the crowds.
Wow, that was a big week. We are exhausted. ... and smitten! Monday was a paperwork day, but aboard Chinook. We went over the contract, item by item, to ensure that everything the contract stated would be delivered. There were a few things missing or incomplete (mixups in ordering, vendor delivery timing issues) but they were noted with written assurances that they would be delivered, changed out or corrected. This all needed to be clearly stated before we transfer the lion's share of the purchase amount to Garcia. Signing and double-checking the contract Anything that wasn't in place, was incomplete or not working properly would be dealt with by the warranty team. There was no refuting that they had delivered A boat. We had no idea how she sailed and there was no way that a single day of inspection would allow anyone to check every bit of the more-than-5000-person-hours of labour that went into this sleek looking vessel. The "Grin and Grab" p
Yep, you read correctly. Our plans have changed, as plans often do and our 2024 is looking somewhat different from what we wrote in a previous post - A Rough Plan for 2024 . Chinook will be left safe and sound at Port Chantereyne Marina - with her Garcia friends! We still plan to head to the UK and Ireland after Easter and will spend until mid-June cruising around, exploring the area and putting Chinook through her paces. Our plan is to sail to Alderney, just off the coast of Normandy, on Easter Monday or Tuesday. It is a short hop but has some major tides that can run up to 10kn so we need to time our departure well. We bought the "Aurigny' (Alderney to the English-speakers) courtesy flag from the local chandlers here in Cherbourg We will then cross the English Channel to Portsmouth and work our way west along the coast of England to Wales and Scotland before heading south along the eastern Irish coast. We need to be back in Cherbourg by mid-June for the 3-month warran
When we rocked up to the Garcia office for our Monday morning meeting, we couldn't help but notice that a mast-less Exploration 45 was parked outside the shed door where we had previously seen our hull parked. Could this be o-u-r boat? Nice boat. Could it be ours??? Marie, our project manager, confirmed that it was our boat! Although we had come to the yard to put the Boat Show goodies that we had acquired into Garcia-provided storage, we were meeting with Christophe, the after-sales guy to go over spare parts and after-delivery emergency equipment that we were putting on our order. We would not be getting a look ON BOARD this marvellous aluminium creature. We would just be admiring through the meeting room window. Our boat tour was tomorrow. The next day, we had mistakenly thought that the meeting was at 11 am, rather than the scheduled 10 am. at 10:15 we received a text message from a puzzled Marie. "Are you coming for the meeting? Don't you want to
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